Astronomers create a dazzling, elaborate map of nearby galaxy in thousands of colors

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Astronomers person revealed a adjacent spiral postulation successful each its superb glory, shining successful thousands of colors

ByMARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronomers person revealed a adjacent spiral galaxy successful each its superb glory, shining successful thousands of colors.

The dazzling panoramic changeable released Wednesday of the Sculptor postulation by a scope successful Chile is truthful elaborate that it's already serving arsenic a star-packed map.

Scientists utilized the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to observe the postulation for immoderate 50 hours, stitching unneurotic much than 100 exposures to make the picture. The representation spans 65,000 light-years, astir the full galaxy. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

Sculptor — officially labeled NGC 253 — is considered a starburst galaxy, 1 dense with stellar action. It's located 11 cardinal light-years distant successful the Southern Hemisphere's constellation Sculptor, and casual to presumption with binoculars oregon tiny telescopes.

“The Sculptor postulation is successful a saccharine spot,” the observatory's Enrico Congiu, who led the research, said successful a statement. “It is adjacent capable that we tin resoluteness its interior operation and survey its gathering blocks with unthinkable detail, but astatine the aforesaid time, large capable that we tin inactive spot it arsenic a full system.”

The much shades of colour from stars, state and particulate successful a galaxy, the much clues to their age, creation and motion, according to the scientists. Sculptor's latest snapshot contains thousands of colors — a glowing montage of purples, pinks and yellows — compared with conscionable a fistful for accepted pictures.

The squad has already discovered 500 planetary nebulae, clouds of state and particulate from dying stars that tin service arsenic cosmic mile markers. Their probe has been accepted for work successful the diary Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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